Since 2013, when Nicolas Maduro assumed presidency in Venezuela andplunging oil prices began wreaking havoc on the country, more than a dozenU.S. companies have been forced to sell, stop or reduce their operationsin the South American country in order to avoid damage cause by theeconomic crisis.

In the past three weeks alone, Coca-Cola announced that it had to stopproduction in the South American country due to a scarcity of sugar, whileBridgestone, a tire company based in Tennessee, decided to sell theirassets to local investors and Kimberly Clark, a paper product companybased in Texas, reduced its production by 90 percent.

At least 35 companies in the Standards & Poors 500 have expressedconcerns about Venezuela in the past two months and many have discussedremoving Venezuela from its global operations, according to an analysis byUSA Today.

That has left Venezuela, already reeling from empty supermarket shelvesand a lack of basic goods, with a dearth of American products.

The U.S. companies pulling out of Venezuela say they are feeling thesqueeze because of the countrys hyperinflation.

The company hasnt received dollars to import raw material since January.About 700 workers had to be suspended. We dont know how much time we cansurvive like this, Williams Bolivar, head of Kimberly Clark WorkersUnion, told Fox News Latino.

Last year, the company reported a $460 million in losses due to currencyexchange problems in Venezuela. That caused a 4 percent reduction of itsglobal earnings and hurt its stocks value in Wall Street.

Since then, Kimberly and other major companies like Procter & Gamble,Colgate, Ford, General Motors and Mondelez (Oreo) opted to removeVenezuela from their global operations to avoid a direct impact on theoverall company's bottom line.

Thats an option to keep the brand in the Venezuelas market whileavoiding possible damage. But it obviously has consequences for thecompany because the parent office refuses to do any investment orinnovations in the country. It also stops credit lines, a source frominside the American-Venezuelan Trade and Industry Chamber, or Venamcham,told FNL.

The chamber would not give an official statement.

The source added that these companies think that Venezuelas situationcould improve in the future.

This was always a great market for U.S. products because its an oil-richcountry where people like to buy quality brands, he said. Thats whythey are waiting.

But others already lost patience. Like Bridgestone, General Mills sold itsoperations in Venezuela to local investors in March.

Mead Johnson, which makes infant formula, said Venezuela was its toughestmarket. It blamed the Venezuela for its revenues falling 6 percent.

The unfavorable year-over-year comparison was mainly driven by tough basecomparisons in our two largest markets and affecting the quarter itselfare significantly reduced shipments to Venezuela," CEO Peter Jakobsen saidduring a call to investors in April, according to USA Today. "Thecompany's Latin American sales were actually 7% higher if you factor outVenezuela and currency effects We expect very limited sales in Venezuela."

Since 2013, when Maduro took power, at least eight multinational companieshave fled from Venezuela. Four are from the US: General Mills, BridgestoneAmerica, EFCO and Clorox.

The others are from Italy (Alitalia), Canada (Air Canada), Mexico (Gruma)and the United Kingdom (Wonder). Just this week, Chile-based Latam, LatinAmerica's largest airline, announced it was suspending its flights toVenezuela because of the "difficult macroeconomic scenario" affecting theregion.

As the economic situation becomes worse, more could follow.

We know that other U.S. companies are negotiating with local investors,the Venamcham source said.

The buyer of General Mills assets in Venezuela, a company call LengfeldInc, is a relatively inexperienced firm and its owners have been linked tothe government by the local media.

The biggest problem for foreign companies is that the amount of dollarscirculating in Venezuelas economy has reduced dramatically since 2013,prompting a further tightening of currency controls. Multinationalcompanies revenues remain hopelessly trapped in the local bolivar.

According to local firm Ecoanalitica, the government owes U.S. companiesmore than $6 billion.

To get out of this crisis the government should sit and negotiate withprivate companies to start producing. Other socialists presidents, likeEvo Morales in Bolivia, do it, said Alejandro Grisanti, one of the headsof Ecoanalitica.

But Maduros government is doing the opposite. Last week, they blamed 10private companies for the countrys current shortages.

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2016/06/01/us-companies-fleeing-venezuela-to-escape-country-collapsing-economy/?intcmp=obinsiteIn the past three weeks alone, Coca-Cola announced that it had to stopproduction in the South American country due to a scarcity of sugar, whileBridgestone, a tire company based in Tennessee, decided to sell theirassets to local investors and Kimberly Clark, a paper product companybased in Texas, reduced its production by 90 percent.

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2016/06/01/us-companies-fleeing-venezuela-to-escape-country-collapsing-economy/?intcmp=obinsiteIn the past three weeks alone, Coca-Cola announced that it had to stopproduction in the South American country due to a scarcity of sugar, whileBridgestone, a tire company based in Tennessee, decided to sell theirassets to local investors and Kimberly Clark, a paper product companybased in Texas, reduced its production by 90 percent.

I'm surprised Maduro hasn't nationalized them all...

I hope Colombia is ready. Fortunately, there is a mountain range alongmuch of the border between the two countries.

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2016/06/01/us-companies-fleeing-venezuela-to-escape-country-collapsing-economy/?intcmp=obinsiteIn the past three weeks alone, Coca-Cola announced that it had to stopproduction in the South American country due to a scarcity of sugar, whileBridgestone, a tire company based in Tennessee, decided to sell theirassets to local investors and Kimberly Clark, a paper product companybased in Texas, reduced its production by 90 percent.

I'm surprised Maduro hasn't nationalized them all...

I hope Colombia is ready. Fortunately, there is a mountain range alongmuch of the border between the two countries.

They will all come to Miami.

--That's Karma

*Rumination*#30 - Socialism will eventually run out of other people's money andcollapse.